Okay, I love West Wing, I really do. But I used to be a Minuteman launch officer, and this is so wrong, it pains me.
THE WEST WING
"EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN"
TELEPLAY BY: AARON SORKIN
STORY BY: ELI ATTIE & DAVID HANDELMAN
TOBY
What the hell happened?
WILL
Two launch crew officers in Minuteman Three silos picked up a signal of an incoming projectile. The speed, arc, and trajectory of which suggested it was headed to New London, Connecticut.
TOBY
From North Korea.
WILL
Yes.
TOBY
Why do we think at this point that North Korea is attacking the East Coast of the United States?
WILL
There are transcripts from the silo that show that surprise was expressed at that.
TOBY
I would think.
WILL
The base was already at DEFCON Delta, so the launch crew initiated Response Code Orion, which calls for the first in a series of steps to arm their 50 Minutemen.
TOBY
What's in New London?
WILL
Trident.
TOBY
The gum?
WILL
The nuclear submarines.
TOBY
Fifty Minutemen they're arming, and is anyone saying this doesn't make sense?
WILL
Two guys in the silo. The launch sequence went on for two minutes before they had confirmation it was a meteor. But the two guys were debating with Airborne Launch Control and the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Centre and that gets sticky. This is missile defense. This stuff has to work.
TOBY
And they're sending in a team of lawyers to look into it.
WILL
Yeah, but we're scrappy.
No kidding, it pains me.
5 comments:
Wrong because it assumes the guys in the silos were given the option? Or because there are always more than two guys in the silos? Or that there are no silos...they are just a myth to keep the Russkies on their toes?
Wrong because people in the capsule (though everyone outside the field calls it the silo, that's where the MISSILE is) don't know squat about incoming anything -- they get alerted when other people detect it. Wrong because there are no transcripts. Wrong because DEFCONs aren't in letter sequence. Wrong because there are no Response Codes, Orion or anything else. Wrong because there aren't a series of steps to 'arm', and they don't have 50 Minutemen (themselves; collectively, yes). Wrong because a launch sequence can be done much faster than 'two minutes'. Wrong because if the ALCC is operational, then the capsule's been destroyed. Wrong because Cheyenne Mountain isn't involved.
I think they might have gotten the color of the uniforms right.
Now imagine the script with Sarah Palin... :-O
Actually, just imagine if Sarah watched that episode. She'd be making speeches. She would. :-O
Well, those guys, they can see Russia, you know....
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